Researcher accused of killing wife with cyanide testifying in own defense

Adam Brandolph and Bobby KerlikOf The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Prosecutors claim Robert Ferrante schemed to kill his wife, searching online for information about cyanide, a cheating spouse, and what a coroner might find in blood.

Ferrante's attorneys say he had nothing to do with Dr. Autumn Marie Klein's death in April 2013, after she collapsed at the couple's Oakland home.

The homicide trial of Ferrante, 66, a University of Pittsburgh researcher, is in its 10th day. Excerpts from the courtroom:

1:50 p.m.

Ferrante is called to testify in his own defense.

12:32 p.m.

Robert Ferrante's son, Michael, took the witness stand and told the jury how his father raised him and his sister by himself.

"It's funny, the older I get - now that I'm married and have a baby on the way - I realize how much my father did for us growing up," said Ferrante, a financial analyst in Boston.

Ferrante described his relationship with his father as "extremely close."

"My dad's my hero," he said.

Robert Ferrante sat at the defense table watching his son with a look of admiration on his face.

Michael Ferrante said he received a phone call from his sister, Kimberly, in the early-morning hours of April 18, 2013, and immediately booked a flight to Pittsburgh.

He arrived in the late afternoon, hopped a bus and went to his father's house.

Over the next few days, Michael Ferrante said he and his wife shuttled Klein's parents back and forth to UPMC Presbyterian, prepared food and took care of his half-sister, Cianna.

"I was kind of helping in any way that I could," he said.

Also, on cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini confronted Dr. Cyril Wecht with a 1979 report that did not show any corrosion on the esophagus of an Allegheny County man who died from cyanide poisoning.

Wecht previously said he would have expected signs of corrosion on Klein's esophagus had she ingested a lethal level of cyanide.

The report came from the coroner's office, which Wecht oversaw at the time. The defense hired Wecht in early May, shortly after Ferrante was charged, to help with its case.

Wecht said it would have depended on the dose and the solution in which the cyanide was ingested.

Ferrante's lawyer, William Difenderfer, said Pellegrini "ambushed" him with the report, which he had not previously seen.

10:45 a.m.

The star witness for Ferrante's defense - famed Pittsburgh forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht - took the stand Wednesday morning and told the jury that he can't say that Klein died of cyanide poison, putting the cause and manner of her death as "undetermined."

Wecht pointed to inconsistent lab results on Klein's blood tests. One lab found there to be a lethal level of cyanide in her blood while a second lab found cyanide levels as insignificant.

"You have very significant inconsistencies," Wecht told the jury. "You have a mixed bag."

Wecht said the Quest laboratory testing, which measured the fatal level of 2.2 milligrams per liter in Klein's blood, would lead him to believe the case is a homicide. However, NMS labs found there to be a level of 0.3 to 0.5 milligrams per liter, a level that could be absorbed from the environment. He called NMS "like the Gold Standard."

"I'm stuck. I'm intellectually stuck," Wecht testified.

He also listed Klein's medical problems including headaches, light headedness, fainting episodes, and a report on her heart that found issues with her heart valves.

Several of the jurors took notes as Wecht testified in front of a packed courtroom. Other judges and court staff sat in to listen during portions of the testimony. Wecht is expected to continue his testimony through the morning and will later be cross-examined by the prosecution.

Wecht, now in his 80s, has investigated suspicious and controversial deaths from President Kennedy to JonBenet Ramsey. He is a former Allegheny County coroner.